Jack Thompson and violence in video games.

tank

Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
Nov 26, 2006
1,086
21
Pittsburgh, PA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thompson_(attorney)

Now this thread is for the general discussion on Jack Thompson (hereby abbreviated J.T.), and his arguments. Don't come in and say "OMG HE"S SUCH TEH DOUCHE BAG" This is for discussion.
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As far as these forums go, most of us know J.T. for his fight against violent video games, and essentially blaming video games for many tragedies. He also, however, has fought against rap music, and media censorship (Howard Stern to be specific)
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Most recently J.T. is going around blaming the recent tradgety of the V-tech shooting on video games
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weG7A4lTGtg[/MEDIA]
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Other Media:
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yREGBKZggwA[/MEDIA]
J.T. On Attack Of The Show

If anyone else had any more videos feel free to post.
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Now as far as I see it. J.T. is flat out wrong about video games. I woul't sugar coat it. The way I see it is that people are predisposed to violent acts. Some people have within them the genetics and the early developmental cognitive learning that predisposes them to be violent. Early psychological studies show how likely children at a very young age are likely to emulate observed activities. Albert Bandura in a 1963 study showed how an INFANT was likely to model an adults aggressive actions towards an inanimate object were emulated a majority of the time. But the thing is, this modeling and vicarious reinforcement was shown in INFANTS! By time you're old enough to even play video games, you've already learned most of your behavioral patterns. Like in the AOTS clip, Mark was talking about how parents should have to monitor what their children are consuming. And that's exactly it. How can you blame video games when there is a rating on them. If I had a child I wouldn't let them play violent games until they are old enough to understand and separate the difference between the real world and the diegesis created by the video game. But at the age of 23 ( the shooter at the Va-Tech shootings ) the shooter was beyond the point in his life and learning development
that a video game would give him the idea to do such a terrible act.


there, I said it. Feel free to debate, but for the sake of the integrity of this thread...please keep it smart, constructive conversation.
 
haha 91% said no 9% said yes. i beat all of that 9% of ppl that said yes dont even PLAY video games
 
I think it's disgusting that's he's blaming video games so soon, I mean he was blaming them the day it happened. How on earth does he know what motivated this guy to do what he did.
 
Sorry Tank, but he is a piece of crap. Despite the fact that so far there's no evidence at all video games motivated the Virginia shootings, he couldn't resist jumping straight in and attempting to score points from this tradegy for his pathetic campaign. On the day it happened, no less!

So far the evidence for video games causing people to be violent has been mixed at best. Yet he continues to simply blame video games, ignoring the fact that there were random violent killings long before Spacewar.

By trying to ban violent video games outright he is treating adults with contempt. We're capable of deciding for ourselves whether we want to play such games, and if you're concerned about what your kids are playing, the age rating on the box should be enough to help you decide if it's suitable.
 
Gun fights - Cause: teens and video games. No relationship.
Street crime - Cause: teens and video games. No relationship.
Wars - Cause: presidents and politicians. If this isn't a strong relationship then I don't know what is.
 
On a side note, I bet he hates video games so much because he had no hand-eye coordination. Probably got beat so much that he turned into the game-hating heathen he is today.

I'm in agreement with everyone here. Video games aren't the cause of all this violence. We've all been gaming for years, and I'm sure never had the urge to just go out and kill people.

Whenever I get upset or angry at something, video games cool me down, not make me more angry.
 
xD Justin Timberlake...

Anyway...

I did this as a project in my ICT class, of all the research there's absolutely no relationship that wasn't a petty crime. There are no full blown murders that can be proven by videogames. I did find out that adults aren't easily manipulated as children, because they're subconscious. Children are more likely to do something idiotic, fact.

It's adults fault for letting children play those games though and leave their kids alone, take Charley and his freaking huge domestic cat for example.
 

The evidence says that the person that did the shootings was mentally unstable.
It was the state of his English essays that showed that he was becoming mentally unstable
Also he went to counseling
So there for you cant link it to Video games
As a fervor point I have been playing said violent games all my life and im ok no killing sprees from me
 
Anybody living in NYC might want to take part in an event aimed at fighting back against Jack Thompsons propoganda.

“This demonstration is to show that gamers will not take the blame of this tragic matter but we will do what we can to help put an end to terrible events like this. We reiterate and urge that all leaders of gaming communities, organizations down to the last gamer to set aside 10 hours of this day to pay respect and come together not just as gamers but as HUMAN BEINGS for peace.”

Fellowship of the Gamers will take place on May 5th, 2007 in New York City at Bryan Park. The event starts at 1pm EST.

If anyone's gonna head down and wants to represent Wii Chat let me know and i'll see if i can sort some stuff out for you :)
 
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Darkprinny said:
It was the state of his English essays that showed that he was becoming mentally unstable
Also he went to counseling
So there for you cant link it to Video games
As a fervor point I have been playing said violent games all my life and im ok no killing sprees from me



exactly, the problem here is the Buckley Act.
"(d) Students' rather than parents' permission or consent. For the purposes of this section, whenever a student has attained eighteen years of age, or is attending an institution of postsecondary education the permission or consent required of and the rights accorded to the parents of the student shall thereafter only be required of and accorded to the student" ( http://www.epic.org/privacy/education/ferpa.html).

This clause (in context with the rest of the bill) says that once you're 18, your university does not have the right to release information about your academics to your parents, legal guardians, or ANYONE.

So yes, Prinny, it was obvious, through his work, that he was becoming a harm to himself, and his community. But the sad, sad thing is; Legally, there was nothing they could do about it.




And the never of jack Thompson to come out the day of the shooting blaming it on video games! What an ass! He didn't even give family and friends time to grieve before he jumped into his bullshit.
 
Woahh Man wish I lived in NYC, I would represent Wiichat :D

It was absolutely disgusting that on the tragic day he was pinning the blame on video games. It should have been a day for mourning, and to respect the people who died and their families, not go around blaming things you have no proof of.

We were discussing this in Media yesterday, now think of this, us in the UK play exactly the same games and watch exactly the same movies as people in the U.S.A, yet there's been nothing at all like this in Britain.

Now I'm not blaming it on the U.S but was discussed in the class that social groups out in the US are TOTALLY different to what we got over here. I mean the way we see it (sorry if this is incorrect) is that if you're like a goth like.. really hardcore and stuff then you're a full on outsider over in the US, while over here their not seen as 'outsiders' and 'freaks' we just accept them for who they are.

So like the Columbine shooting the guys we're in trench coats and stuff and we're 'outsiders' and I dunno there was stuff to do with the whole 'outsider' stuff I do believe. And all this puts a hell of a lot of preasure on them because it's totally different to what we got in the UK.

So my point is, how can video games be blamed when we in the UK play exactly the same games and stuff like that don't happen over here?

I think Jack Thompson seriously needs to be stopped.

Thanks for reading if you did guys.
 
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